Vegetable dealers hit hard by hartal

MARADUU: The Agricultural Urban Wholesale Market (AUWM) here was hit hard by the unexpected hartal, as it could not do any business on Thursday. Nearly 60 tonnes of vegetables that arrived at the market from various parts of the state on Wednesday night has become stale, said K G Antony, secretary, AUWM Traders Association.The vegetable dealers said that since the hartal was announced on Wednesday evening, they could not give intimation to the traders from whom they had bought the vegetables. “We cannot stop the delivery of vegetables once the vehicles carrying the goodies have started their journey from other states,” said the vegetable traders.Antony said that there was a loss of more than `30 lakh. Vegetables from Kerala and adjacent states like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Bangalore had arrived in the market on Wednesday night.“Due to hartal, we couldn’t sell these vegetables or even unload them. The protesters had blocked the unloading process too,” said Antony. He also added that the vegetables and fruits will not stay fresh after a day. “Pulse and leafy vegetables will have a shelf life of a day. We do not have storage facilities and are bound to sell them without profit,” he said. AUWM Secretary Sherly Thomas said that the same situation had occured during earlier hartals. “The last hartal was horrible as it was also announced late night,” she said.She also added that individual farmers arriving in the market were also affected. “The farmers selling produce like tapioca, bananas and jack fruit and have incurred losses,” she said.